The Youngest Sword Seeker (1)
Najin showed mercy to the attackers.
Gerald, who only later came to his senses, also accepted Najin's proposal, and the Experts were little different. Even after launching the ambush and losing the duel, their opponent had shown mercy.
No one failed to grasp what that meant.
But understanding and agreeing are two different things.
"Only death."
Not everyone accepted Najin's offer. Someone, the moment they realized their mission had failed, took their own life. With the hostage already dead, they simply saw no further reason to keep living.
With a bitter expression, Klaus closed the man's eyes and rose from his place. The attackers present were not the whole of them; there were still others clinging to Roselyn's heels as well.
"One of them will probably agree. I didn't get to talk long enough with the other two to be sure, but..."
Saying so, Klaus, Gerald, and Najin headed toward where Roselyn was. To make the offer. The moment they arrived at their destination, however, Najin realized there was no longer any need.
"..."
Blood scattered in every direction.
Roselyn idly flicked her dagger as she crushed the finely chopped corpse of a mage underfoot.
"Oh, you're here?"
Glancing back, Roselyn grinned.
Najin swept a look around her. Right beside Roselyn was Basaus Malek, grit-ting his teeth as he tried to stem the bleeding from the stump of his severed arm.
"Looks like you completely wrecked them. And talked them around as a bonus?"
"That's how it turned out. What about your side, Miss Roselyn?"
"Well, while we were fighting I figured I didn't really have to kill them, so I was going to let them off with just one arm, but..."
Roselyn Ascalo was a powerhouse, and the strong have many ways of defeating an opponent without killing them. Yet beneath Roselyn's feet lay a finely chopped corpse.
The five-circle mage, Cirquel Cravelin.
Looking down at her remains, Roselyn wore an expression of thorough displeasure. She clicked her tongue and kicked the corpse's head with the tip of her boot.
"That bitch and that guy weren't going to work. You gotta watch how you talk."
There was not only one corpse.
Looking closer, another head was rolling across the floor. Basaus Malek had survived by losing an arm, but the mage Cirquel and the archer Tyler had not.
"The ones who spoke the word 'witch' in front of me, who called me a witch—guess they didn't know what happens to people like that. So I taught them."
Muttering that, Roselyn Ascalo turned her head. Her red, swirling eyes fixed on Najin. Then she grinned.
"Congrats on becoming a Sword Seeker."
Smiling with satisfaction, she patted Najin's shoulder. Leaving a remark that he should buy her a drink next time, she walked off. Klaus, standing beside Najin, watched her back with a somewhat dazed expression.
"Terrifying woman."
As if in firm agreement, Gerald gave a large nod.
2.
The incident was settled for the time being.
Returning to the city late that night, Najin received only basic treatment from a physician before heading straight to his lodgings. The doctor tried to stop him, insisting it was not an injury that would end with first aid alone, but Najin had no choice in the matter.
No good if my abnormal recovery ability gets exposed.
Dragging his heavy body, Najin returned to his rooms. He was utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally. He downed a potion he had prepared in advance, poured more over his wounds, and let out a long breath.
No days of being whole-bodied, really.
Every fight, a hole or two punched through the body was standard, with scars all over as a bonus. Of course the scars would vanish after about a week, but...
This one doesn't disappear.
Najin touched his shoulder.
The scar Ivan had carved. Because it had been obtained before he laid hands on Excalibur, this scar would never heal. Najin smiled bitterly.
"Anyway..."
Sitting on the edge of a chair, Najin exhaled at length.
Sword Seeker—seeker of the sword.
Having reached the goal Ivan had once spoken of to him, Najin felt rather complicated emotions. Until just yesterday he had been a Sword Expert like Ivan. Of course, quite some time had passed since he had grown stronger than the Ivan of that day, but...
Now...
The realm Ivan had never reached.
He had stepped into an entirely new domain. At that fact, Najin let out a smile that was both bitter and refreshing. Even though he had become far stronger than Ivan, Ivan remained a towering presence within him.
If Ivan learned he had become a Sword Seeker, how would he react? He might burst out laughing, or curse him as a crazy bastard while thumping his shoulder, or raise a toast at the usual tavern. It was entirely possible.
Picturing that scene, Najin exhaled long. He missed the underground city a little—no, a great deal. He had never thought he would come to miss that place. Scenes of the subterranean city flashed through his mind.
Ivan's office, the plaza, the empty lot where he had trained with Oppen, old man Hogel's smithy...
As he pictured them, Najin snorted a quiet laugh. There was no need to merely imagine them. Najin closed his eyes and focused inward. Stepping into the mindscape that had formed within him required nothing more than that.
Blink.
Najin opened the eyes he had closed.
In reality his eyes remained shut, but in his inner world he opened them. Looking around, he saw the vast landscape of the underground city.
A landscape far wider than before.
The space that had once been only about ten paces now stretched to places his vision could not reach in the distance. And...
Thud.
Someone patted Najin's shoulder. Turning his head, he found Merlin there, blue hair flowing. Merlin, whose presence had grown even clearer and more distinct. She smiled playfully at him.
"How is it? Clearer, right?"
Najin nodded. Definitely.
"The space is much wider too."
"The stars are shining brighter as well."
"And there are two of them now."
Stars hanging in the sky and on the earth. The two still shone in their respective places. Looking around at the surroundings, Najin exhaled long.
"By the way, what do we do about this?"
"About what?"
Merlin tilted her head, and Najin chuckled.
"When I first set foot in this city, Merlin, you said this."
Najin held up two fingers.
"Sword Seeker, white-grade rank—let's set it at two years. King Arthur took about that long, you said."
"I... did?"
"And I said, what's two years—one year is plenty."
Merlin's expression began to stiffen.
She slightly averted her gaze. But Najin did not let her look away. He shifted his body to follow the direction she had turned her head.
"But look at this. It only took me half a year."
"Wait—half a year? It's seven months. Exactly seven months and twelve days."
"Hmm, that's right too. There's a big difference between half a year and seven months and twelve days."
Najin nodded, a smile in his voice.
"But I think there's also a big gap between seven months and one year, and between that and two years."
"..."
"I won. The bet."
Krrrgh—Merlin made a long, pained sound.
"Fine, I lost. Anyway..."
Grumbling, Merlin glared at Najin.
As if something felt off.
"But you—were you always this kind of personality? You feel a bit different."
"I was always closer to this side."
Najin shrugged.
He thought he knew what Merlin was pointing out. The lightened atmosphere. The playful way of speaking. The cocky behavior. Actually, this was closer to the original Najin.
"I'd gotten too stiff. Common sense-wise, a brat hanging out with thugs in the underground city couldn't be that solemn."
"That's... true."
"So, you don't like it?"
"No?"
Merlin grinned.
"I like this side better too. People don't always have to be serious."
"I think the same. Just get serious when it's time to be serious."
He had reached the realm of Sword Seeker.
That did not mean only the growth of body and martial power. Mentally, and spiritually as well, he had matured a step. A faint smile touched Merlin's lips as she glanced at him.
"Anyway."
Najin said, looking up at the sky.
"It seems I've achieved all my goals in this city. What should we do from now on?"
His goals in Cambria.
Reaching the realm of Sword Seeker. Having achieved that goal, Najin was already asking about the next. He had not the slightest intention of rejoicing and resting on his laurels simply because he had become a Sword Seeker.
The road ahead was still long.
He had merely stood once more at a new starting point.
"What are you talking about? Achieved all goals?"
Merlin shrugged at his words.
"There's still one left."
"One?"
"Forgot? This city's legend."
She said.
"The place where two dragons are buried. The Tomb of the Dragons."
Another name for Cambria.
In the distant past, Arthur, who began her journey in this city, achieved one great feat. That feat is still spoken of even after hundreds of years—because it was embroidered into the night sky as a constellation.
"In Cambria, Arthur and I took down two dragons. We sealed them beneath this city."
The First Seat—the human who brought down dragons.
The first star Arthur drove into the night sky.
"Dragons are originally immortal. Until Excalibur is driven into the reverse scale of the Dragon of the Abyss—the first and last dragon—dragons never die. They may be sealed, but they do not meet death. They will inevitably resurrect someday."
Merlin whispered to Najin.
"You know what I'm getting at, right?"
Najin's heart pounded.
Because he understood exactly what Merlin was trying to say.
"It's about time you earned yourself a star too, don't you think?"
That star he had so longed for. Merlin was saying the time to obtain it was drawing near.
3.
"From now on is the real challenge."
A few days had passed since the incident.
In the meantime Najin recovered from his injuries, while Dieta secured the identities of those who had come under Najin's command and prepared cover identities for them.
After the matter was settled.
When Najin visited her office to decide their future course of action, Dieta said to him,
"Until now the Church has only used hunting dogs with no connection to the Church—ones that could be discarded without repercussions. But from now on they won't. The story has changed."
She continued.
"The Church might intervene directly. I don't know why they're so obsessed with you, but if what you say is true—that there's a reason for it..."
Dieta clicked her tongue.
"From now on they'll move even if it means taking losses. We've gone beyond the range where this can be handled cleanly. So, from now on is the real challenge."
"I've thought about that part."
"Probably thinking the same as me?"
Najin nodded.
They had discussed this once before launching the operation. And even earlier, it was something he had talked about with Ivan.
Become a big shot the Church cannot easily deal with.
Ivan had said that, and set the standard as Sword Seeker. At the time Najin had not fully understood, but now he did. Because he had come to know how much weight the existence of a Sword Seeker carried.
"A powerhouse of Sword Seeker level must be reported to the Empire, and..."
"They gain a status befitting their skill. Being a Sword Seeker itself is a form of guarantee."
"Exactly."
Dieta held out a sheet of paper in front of Najin. A document bearing the emblem of the Dieta Trading Company and the Cambria Foundation.
"Time to cast off the fake identity."
A document that would be thrown into the heart of the Empire.
Not the false name Ivan, but the two-character name Najin—it was time to announce it to the world.